KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Technical Contribution (60%+)
- Write production-quality Python daily test framework design, automation suite development, and internal tooling delivery are your primary engineering outputs.
- Architect and build automated test suites for backend components and system subdomains: integration, contract, regression, and performance coverage.
- Design and develop internal enterprise tools: simulators, debug/cheat utilities, load generators, data seeders, environment scaffolding, and similar productivity-enabling software.
- Own the technical standard for the team code review, framework decisions, dependency choices, and tooling architecture are yours to lead.
- Integrate test suites and tooling into CI/CD pipelines; ensure builds are fast, stable, and actionable.
People Leadership & Team Development
- Lead a team of 45 automation engineers provide clear direction, regular feedback, and meaningful development opportunities.
- Make people growth a responsibility, not a side task actively track progress, create learning opportunities, and identify ceiling blockers for each engineer.
- Build a team culture of quality ownership: engineers who care about correctness, coverage, and maintainability, not just task completion.
- Own hiring and onboarding for the team define what good looks like and build toward it.
- Create an environment where engineers raise concerns early, challenge technical decisions openly, and share failures without fear.
Delivery & Execution
- Own the team's delivery commitments scope, quality, timelines, and post-delivery stability.
- Remove blockers at the team level; escalate when necessary with a proposed resolution, not just a problem.
- Drive measurable improvement in automation coverage, tool reliability, and engineering throughput over time.
- Maintain visibility of team workload and capacity; flag risks before they become delays.
Cross-functional Collaboration
- Work closely with backend domain teams, QA leads, and Technical Directors to align automation priorities with product and delivery goals.
- Act as the primary interface between the automation team and the broader engineering group communicate clearly, manage expectations, and represent the team's work credibly.
- Contribute to group-level engineering standards and practices where automation and tooling intersect.
REQUIREMENTS
- 5+ years of hands-on software development experience engineering-track, not primarily QA. You are a developer who specialises in automation.
- Python as primary language you write idiomatic, production-quality Python. This is a hard requirement, not a preference.
- Proven experience building backend test automation frameworks from scratch and owning them over time.
- 2+ years of direct team leadership experience managing small to mid-size teams (310 people). Not just informal mentoring or tech lead roles without people accountability.
- Track record of growing engineers you can point to people you've developed who took on more responsibility.
- Solid understanding of backend system architecture: services, APIs, messaging, databases. You need to understand what you're testing at depth.
- Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on contribution with leadership responsibilities this role does not allow you to choose one over the other.
- Fluent in English you will operate a global, English-speaking leadership group.
Technical Depth Expected
- Python ecosystem: pytest, asyncio, httpx/aiohttp, Pydantic, click/typer, Docker SDK, and production-grade tooling patterns.
- Backend systems: REST/gRPC APIs, message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ), relational and document databases.
- Testing patterns: test pyramid, contract testing, test doubles, data isolation, determinism in test design.
- Infrastructure basics: Docker/Compose, CI/CD systems, observability tooling.
The right candidate is:
- A working engineer writes production Python daily, leads by example, and is respected for technical depth by the team.
- A committed people leader invests in engineer growth as a primary responsibility, not an afterthought. Tracks it, drives it, measures it.
- Ownership-driven treats automation coverage and internal tooling as products with real standards. Does not accept low-quality output from the team or from themselves.
- Direct and constructive gives clear feedback, manages expectations honestly, and surfaces problems early.
- Self-directed identifies gaps and improvements without waiting to be asked. Drives the team's technical evolution proactively.
- Pragmatic balances ideal solutions with delivery reality. Makes trade-offs explicitly and communicates them clearly.
- Collaborative works across domain teams and leadership layers without friction.
